Tens of thousands of hectares have been affected.
Strengthening winds have firefighters on edge as several bushfires continue to burn out of control across NSW.
Crews have spent the weekend fighting the intense blazes, with a watch and act alert remaining in place for Bees Nest in Armidale and at Drake near Tenterfield.
The Armidale fire has already razed almost 63,000 hectares – twice the size of the Sydney city council area -while at Drake, around 32,000 hectares have been destroyed.
A number of properties have also been damaged or destroyed.
A separate blaze at Shark Creek on the NSW north coast also caused concerns late on Sunday night, but the threat had eased by Monday morning.
“It’s going to be another tough day for firefighters,” NSW Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers told ABC on Monday.
“These winds, coupled with the underlying drought affecting much of NSW, has made firefighting extremely difficult.”
That blaze is burning on multiple fronts and is being pushed towards the north-east by strong winds.
Crews have worked overnight with landholders to protect isolated properties in the area, while a number of tactical back-burns also have been conducted.
“We have hundreds of firefighters out there doing our best to protect property,” Mr Rogers said.
“Unfortunately, we think that the property loss will climb from what we understand lost so far but it will take some time until crews can get in there and tally those costs.”
Armidale, Clarence Valley, Glen Innes, Inverell, Tenterfield, Uralla and Walcha local government areas have been declared natural disaster zones, allowing residents to access state and federal financial support.
The Insurance Council also declared a catastrophe for bushfires that have destroyed homes or property in the state’s north, giving priority to claims from affected policyholders.
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Source: AAP
Image: AAP / Handout
Written by: Ally Parker
